Updated: Meet the parents: LCPS parents differ on qualities for new superintendent

The company was hired by LCPS in February. It is being paid $30,000, according to Daniel Adams, an LCPS spokesman. About 20 people attended the meeting on March 16 which was moderated by Robert Alfaro, a GR Recruiting associate and former area superintendent in San Antonio and Clark County, Nevada.

Rather than just wait for candidates to apply for the position, Alfaro said GR, which has helped select superintendents in Fairfax County, Dallas, Las Vegas, and Omaha, will also recruit candidates for LCPS. The 83,000-student division has 98 schools, about 13,000 full-time employees and 3,000 part-timers. It is the third largest in Virginia and 41st largest in the U.S.

After the candidates are recruited in April and vetted — “no one like surprises, especially us,” Alfaro said — eight to 12 candidates will be interviewed by the school board in early May. Two or three finalists will be re-interviewed with the goal of hiring a new superintendent in June.

The new superintendent will replace Daniel W. Smith who was promoted to interim superintendent in December and earns $295,000 annually. He replaced Scott Alan Ziegler who was fired and subsequently indicted the same month over his handling of the 2021 student-on-student sexual assault scandal. Since the assaults, board members and Ziegler have been subjected to harassment and numerous death threats which are part of a national trend documented by Reuters.

Conservative critics of liberal LCPS policies on race and sex say the way the assaults were handled is part of a lack of accountability and transparency within the school division.

“I would personally urge you to tell that superintendent [candidate] to think about whether they want to take the job,” said Brian Davison, who regularly excoriates board members at board meetings. “Because we’re not going away.”

Suzanne Satterfield, another vocal LCPS critic at board meetings, said the next superintendent must address shortages in special education services and teachers. LCPS has been accused of undercounting the time special education students spend in special education classes to justify cutting special education staff.

“We need to have somebody who is going to come in and take that seriously,” Satterfield said. “Children at all different levels are being hurt and you have no idea how hard it is for parents to get support within LCPS.”

Parent Lori Levine said some students are still struggling academically due to the COVID-19 pandemic which temporarily closed schools and killed about 1.1 million Americans. The dead included nearly 24,000 Virginians including about 300 in Loudoun, according to the Virginia Department of Health and the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Levine said the new superintendent should prioritize academics.

“We need a leader who is going to set that tone and not tinker around in the feel-good emotional stuff,” she said. “Because it’s not giving us anything.”

However, Marc Sirinsky countered that the new superintendent should embrace inclusiveness and diversity which is part of the LCPS commitment to equity. Sirinsky said his daughter was subjected to antisemitic slurs by fellow students. Sirinsky said they weren’t properly disciplined.

Sirinsky’s other child is transgender and a special education student and Sirinsky said the child has been treated well at LCPS. Sirinsky conceded the new superintendent won’t be able to do much about a record number of Republican-sponsored anti-LGBTQ bills and laws. The ACLU reports over 400 have been proposed this year. But Sirinksy said the superintendent can create a safe haven for LGBTQ students while “raising all boats” academically.

“What they can do is create an inclusive environment so that no matter what happens outside the walls of the schools these children are in, they’ll feel safe and welcome and supported and loved,” he said. “If we have somebody that comes in that doesn’t understand that, who doesn’t have the experience raising all boats in a community and district as diverse as ours in pretty much every way, they’re going to fail.”

Davinelle Woodson, a parent and Heritage special education teacher, said the new superintendent must support consequences for students who aren’t trying to succeed academically or are disciplinary problems. “Kids feel like they can do whatever they want and nothing can happen to them,” she said.

Woodson also said the superintendent must stand up to parents who try to bully and micromanage teachers.

“We’re tired of parents trying to run the show in the classroom,” Woodson said. “It has gotten out of control.”

Virginia law gives school boards 120 days from the date of the superintendent’s departure to fill the vacancy. If they are unable to meet that deadline, the law allows them a 180-day extension.

Dan Nebhut said hiring a superintendent by June is too fast for such an important job, given all the rancor at LCPS. He suggested waiting until January when a new school board has been elected. All nine seats are up for election in November. Nebhut compared hiring a superintendent by June to flying a kite during lightning.

“That lightning is going to be the numerous parents who are going to take no other course of action because they are going to feel pressed over the decision and put upon, and the claws come out and the sniping comes out by default,” Nebhut told Alfaro. “The process to have the new superintendent named two weeks after the end of the school year is incredibly tone deaf and in terrible interest of the longevity of the position.”

Correction This story has been corrected to reflect a misspelling of Marc Sirinsky’s name and that antisemitic slurs were directed at his daughter. 62229885-abb5-4701-a559-96699867d00c

Updated Information This story has been updated with the amount of money Loudoun County Public Schools is paying GR Recruiting for the superintendent search. e2f06648-1314-4111-9bf7-811a6c9fcf4f